Wake Forest Hires Bowling Green's Coach

Dave Clawson is headed to Wake Forest days after coaching Bowling Green to a MAC championship game victory against then-unbeaten Northern Illinois and Jordan Lynch. Photo by Jonathan Newton/Getty Images.

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Dave Clawson is parlaying a MAC championship into an ACC coaching job, taking over at Wake Forest, the school announced Tuesday.

Clawson is 90-80 as a head coach, but is 18-8 the last two seasons with the Falcons, including a 47-27 win over previously-unbeaten Northern Illinois in Saturday's conference championship. Clawson also led Richmond to the FCS semifinals in 2007, his fourth and final year with the team.

"We are very pleased to have Dave Clawson leading our football program," Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman said in a statement. "Dave is a proven winner and leader and has had great success at every institution he has coached. Dave has rebuilt every program that he has coached and has led each institution to a conference championship. He has developed a national reputation as a builder of programs.

"Dave's expectations for our program and players are extremely high. We have much to look forward to with his leadership of our program."

Clawson's Falcons played decent on offense this year, but his defense finished fifth in the NCAA, allowing just 14.8 points per game — an anomaly in the MAC. Clawson will have the unenviable task of resurrecting one of the worst offenses in the nation at Wake Forest. Clawson's 2009 Bowling Green team did feature one of the most explosive passing offenses in NCAA history, including a 4,000-yard passing season by Tyler Sheehan and a 155-catch season by Freddie Barnes, an NCAA record.

The Demon Deacons had virtually no offensive production this season aside from senior receiver Michael Campanaro, who missed the final three-plus games due to injury. The team finished ranked near the bottom of the NCAA in every offensive category, including passing yards (95th), rushing yards (115th) and points (117th).

Bowling Green has named special teams coordinator Adam Scheier as interim coach for the bowl game.